UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, is to be questioned by the Whitehall investigation into a Tory lawmaker’s claim that her Muslim faith got her sacked from the Government, reported The Telegraph.
Nusrat Ghani, who was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport in 2018, but lost her position to Kelly Tolhurst amid a cabinet reshuffle in February 2020, had purportedly privately confided in Javid, who quit as Chancellor in the same shakeup. Ghani had approached Javid shortly after being allegedly told by Chief Whip Mark Spencer that she was fired, in part, due to her “Muslimness”, stated the publication.
At the time, Javid supported the sacked junior transport secretary’s desire to pursue the issue, as he acknowledged the gravity of her claims, writes the outlet. He had also ostensibly agreed to keep the matter confidential.
FILE PHOTO: MP Nusrat Ghani speaks during a session in Parliament in London, Britain May 12, 2021
© REUTERS / UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor
Nusrat Ghani, Tory MP for Wealden, had, accordingly, gone to Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2020 to lay bare her claims, states the report.
However, it is suggested that No 10 officials had become aware of the allegations even before Ghani spoke of them to the PM. When they confronted Spencer over them, claim sources, the Chief Whip adamantly denied ever making the comments implied.
While Boris Johnson suggested to Ghani –the first female Muslim government minister in UK history - that she should submit a complaint to the Conservative Party, the lawmaker was cited over the weekend as saying she had deemed this not appropriate over “something that happened on government business”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered an inquiry into the alleged Islamophobia row on Monday, with Downing Street announcing:
"The prime minister has asked the Cabinet Office to conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Nusrat Ghani MP. At the time these allegations were first made, the Prime Minister recommended to her that she make a formal complain to CCHQ (Conservative Campaign Headquarters). She did not take up this offer. The Prime Minister has now asked officials to establish the facts about what happened.As he said at the time, the prime minister takes these claims very seriously".
Besides Javid, the Tory Chief Whip, Mark Spencer, is also expected to be questioned. The ongoing inquiry is anticipated to also interview third parties that might hold information relevant to the issue, according to a cited government source. This might include individuals that the lawmaker and the Chief Whip had shared their account of the alleged conversation with.
Ghani is believed to have conferred with at least one other person in the wake of her meeting with Spencer after the reshuffle. While originally telling this individual she thought her removal from the front bench was no more than a political move, after the alleged conversation with the Chief Whip she is understood to have told the “friend” that her “Muslimness” was what purportedly got her ditched.
A Boris Johnson ally was cited on Monday night as suggesting that Nusrat Ghani “just wasn’t up to the job” of being a junior transport minister and “wouldn’t have gone if she was vaguely competent”.
Nusrat Ghani, who had confessed to The Sunday Times that the government whip noted her "muslimness" as an issue in reshuffle discussions and that her status as a "Muslim woman... was making colleagues uncomfortable" has applauded the announced inquiry to be carried out by civil servants. She expressed the hope that it would thoroughly probe what was said between her and “the whip” in Downing Street.
Since the row broke, Chief Whip Mark Spencer has been insisting that he “never used those words attributed” to him by Ghani after the cabinet reshuffle in 2020 and dismissed her ostensibly defamatory claims as “completely false”.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi, a Muslim and Conservative politician, who became a minister in 2021, weighed in on the scandal, telling Sky News that Boris Johnson had spoken to Nusrat Ghani.
“She has made a very serious allegation, the Prime Minister spoke to her last night and said the Cabinet Office will investigate this and look at the detail of this," he said.
He added that Islamophobia is "not widespread" in the party. According to him, the prime minister does not discriminate against people in any way, especially when it comes to religious background.”